Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The Milosevic Era Has Returned - der Spiegel

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Vldan Batic, 56, the former Serbian Justice Minister, talks about how biased the justice system still is in his troubled nation and how the shadow of former President Slobodan Milosevic continues to hover.

Even while on trial for war crimes, Milosevic may still be pulling the strings in Serbia.Slobodan Milosevic, first became president of Yugoslavia in 1989, but many say his influence is still felt. Currently, he is in the Netherlands, facing charges of war crimes at The Hague. In his first six years in power, Milosevic ignited conflicts in Croatia (1991) and Bosnia (1992) during which thousands of civilians died. In 1997, he earned international disdain when he brutally repressed Kosovo's ethnic Albanian residents. In 2000, he relinquished the presidency to Vojislav Kostunia, but only under popular pressure.

SPIEGEL: In a surprising move, a Serbian court revoked international arrest warrants for former president Slobodan Milosevic's wife Mira Markovic and his son Marko. Already the Serbian people were irate that charges against Marko for allegedly harassing his father's political opponents were dropped and that financial corruption charges against Mira Markovic were dismissed. Some say the dropping of the charges was an inside deal. Is Milosovic once again ruling the nation, this time from his cell at The Hague war crimes court?

Batic: For everyone who lives in Serbia, one thing is clear: The Milosevic era has returned. Almost all of the most important posts in the nation are once again filled with Milosevic's cronies. In Milosevic's wife's case, the chief prosecutor issued "an obligatory order" to his deputy to drop the arrest warrants. Such an order is a first in our judicial history. Behind it all was a deal between Milosevic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. Kostunica remains in power thanks to the votes of the Socialist parliamentarians, whose party Milosevic once led.

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SPIEGEL: Marko allegedly controlled illicit cigarette smuggling. He was arrested after he allegedly threatened an opposition member with a chainsaw. Now, the defendant has taken back the charges.

Batic: What else can the man do? His mother wrote me a letter in which her terror was clear: Marko's friend threatened him and his family day and night.

SPIEGEL: How seriously can we take the promises to track down and arrest the two most searched-for war criminals, General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Kadadzic?

Batic: Mladic is often in Serbia, mostly in Belgrade. He -- just like other war criminals -- is still being protected by the army, the church and Kostunica. And I don't just mean morally. All of those who have given themselves up as war criminals to the Hague have received up to €500,000 compensation. It's being financed by four business magnates who then are compensated by the Serbian government with lucrative deals.

SPIEGEL: The government of the assassinated Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic which you belonged to, also knew about Mladic's trips to Belgrade. Why didn't you arrest him?

DPAA mass grave containing the remains of Muslims killed in Kosovo.Batic: He had the support of the army, not the government. The police could not initiate a war against the army.

SPIEGEL: Djindjic was killed in 2003 and the case against his alleged assassin is threatening to become a farce. Not long ago, the state prosecutor was replaced.

Batic That's because he would not be influenced by the government's attempts to water down the evidence. A few people holding cabinet posts today were directly involved in the killing. That's why the government is waffling on the case.

SPIEGEL: The case has focused completely on one suspect and legitimate questions about his accomplices have been totally ignored. Why?

Batic: The reasons are well known. They were people who had no political perspective under Djindjic -- a group of criminals like the ones sitting in The Hague. The plot was organized by the state and military secret service. The patriarch blessed the plot using the logic that Djindjic was a traitor and it's no sin to murder a traitor.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Did DPA somehow verify the religion of the victims through DNA testing? How do they know they are muslims? A large proportion of the killed from the original and largest mass grave of Meje are Catholics, including the population of Meje itself. But regardless, why do they have to stress the religion of the deceased? The West has a long way to go to achieve religious blindness, the way it proclaims itself to be.Labeling the victims "Albanian Muslims" in every article is bad facts and bad ethics. Bad journalism.

Especialy considering how irrelevant it is to the Albanians themselves. Be you muslim, catholic or jewish, you're Albanian. I would call no our leaders to emphesise this trait more, as it is something that characterizes our nation.

MILOSEVIC IS DEAD.SCHROEDER THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR? ONCE SAID BEFORE THE KOSSOVO WAR "I WANT TO LOCK THE WHOLE OF SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE INTO NATO AND THE EU" MUCH LIKE HITLER WANTED. IS THIS REALLY THE GOAL OF SO CALLED DEMOCRATIC NATIONS TO LOCK FREE PEOPLES INTO AN ORGANISATION SO CORRUPT, UNWIELDY AND LACKING IN COMMON SENSE, THE EU.NEVER TRUST THE GERMAN POLITICAL PAPER DER SPIEGEL OR ANY OTHER NATIONS PRESS IT IS ALL PROPAGANDA AND LIES, JUST LIKE THE WMD LIES OF BUSH AND BLAIR.DEMOCRACY FOR IRAQ, WHAT LIKE THE DEMOCRACY IN THE UK WHERE OVER 60% OF THE POPULATION NEVER HAS A SAY IN WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES, WHERE THEY ARE LIED TO AND CONNED EVERY DAY BY PRESS AND POLITICIANSDEMOCRACY THAT CONTROLS AFGHAN POPPY FIELDS AND YET ALLOWS MORE HEROIN THAN EVER TO ENTER EUROPE AND KILL OUR CHILDREN, THE FUTURE OF OUR NATIONS AND OUR HERITAGE.THE SERBIAN GOVT MAY BE WRONG NOW BUT THE PEOPLE LIKE THE PEOPLE OF UK ARE GOOD PEOPLE, WE JUST HAVE RUBBISH GOVERNMENTS, AND THE KLA/UCK ALBANIANS ARE NO DIFFERENT. REMEMBER ALBANIANS THEY LED TO THE DEATHS OF SO MANY OF YOUR OWN COUNTRYMEN BECAUSE OF THEIR CORRUPT POLITICS AND MURDEROUS ACTIONS. DONT TRUST THEM THEIR ONLY AIM IS GREED AND WEALTH FOR THEMSELVES AND CRUMBS FOR THE PEOPLE AS WITH ALL POLITICIANS.